2010: Worst Film Year Ever

If I claimed that 2010 was the worst film year of all time, I'd be far from being the first. Most newspapers have had their film sections smeared with editorials on how hopelessly idiotic all the films of 2010 are. Truthfully, what we've seen thus far gives us nothing to be optimistic about. Maybe you wondered how it was possible that the American remake of Death at a Funeral came out so much worse than its British counterpart. Perhaps you saw Salt and rolled your eyes at the obvious set up for a sequel. Maybe you even stumbled into Clash of the Titans and decided that you would have paid the nine dollars you spent on your ticket to stay home and not be sitting through this inane film. Yes there have been very few films which give one a sense that 2010 will be anything more than the recycled nonsense that some big movie producer is convinced will be the next Avatar. Having optimism in such dark times can be very difficult. Yet, there is some hope. Sofia Coppola and Clint Eastwood both have projects slated to be released in 2010. Also, we haven't even hit the November-December season in which the Oscar Winning Films are usually released. There is some hope for 2010. The main problem now is that many of the critics who have been complaining about 2010 are using 2010 as ammunition against the whole first decade of our new century. Some critics have called our decade hopeless, plagued by films like Clash of the Titans. These critics forget that just a few years ago they were pouring buckets of praise on Crash and claiming that Brokeback Mountain is perhaps the greatest film ever made. They can't even think back to last year when films like Up in the Air, The Hurt Locker, and Inglourious Basterds graced the screen. True we haven't had any Godfathers or Citizen Kanes, but keep in mind that those films came far later in the century. How many classics were released from 1900-1910? I think there's a lot to look forward to in the century to come, even if the year 2010 is a bust.

My Top Ten Directors, Actors, and Writers

To elaborate more on the last post, I'll focus on the directors, actors, and writers. The director is often the person who gets the most credit for a film's success or failure. The actor is of course the person who the audience notices the most. The writer is another member of the crew who's efforts are clearly visible. Here are my top ten directors and the films that I think are their crowning achievements.

1. Akira Kurosawa-Seven Samurai
2. Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction
3. Francis Ford Coppola-The Godfather
4. Milos Forman-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
5. Martin Scorsese-Taxi Driver
6. Sidney Lumet-Network
7. Alfred Hitchcock-Vertigo
8. Sofia Coppola-Lost in Translation
9. The Coen Brothers-No Country for Old Men
10. Charlie Kaufman-Synecdoche, New York

Here are my top ten actors.

1. Al Pacino-The Godfather Part II
2. Jack Nicholson-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3. Daniel Day Lewis-There Will Be Blood
4. Phillip Seymour Hoffman-Synecdoche, New York
5. Marlon Brando-The Godfather
6. Toshiro Mifune-Seven Samurai
7. Alec Baldwin-Glengarry Glen Ross
8. Dennis Hopper-Blue Velvet
9. Robert De Niro-Taxi Driver
10. Peter Finch-Network

Here are my top ten writers
1.Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction
2. David Mamet-Glengarry Glen Ross
3. Paddy Chayefsky-Network
4. Charlie Kaufman-Synecdoche, New York
5. Christopher Nolan-Memento
6. Michael Arndt-Little Miss Sunshine
7. Whit Stillman-Metropolitan
8. Gene Wilder and Mel Brooks-Young Frankenstein
9. Taxi Driver-Paul Schrader
10. Crash-Paul Haggis

At their best

While many people work on a film there are some times in which various departments have really showed their ability. Here are some of the best people at work on a movie.

Screenwriters
Quentin Tarantino-Pulp Fiction
Robert Towne-Chinatown
Julius and Phillip Epstein and Howard Koch-Casablanca

Directors
Francis Ford Coppola-The Godfather
Sam Peckinpah-The Wild Bunch
Sergio Leone-The Good, the Bad, and The Ugly

Actors
Daniel Day Lewis-There Will Be Blood
Marlon Brando-The Godfather
Jack Nicholson-One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

Cinematography
Nestor Almendros-Days of Heaven
Kazuo Miyagawa-Rashomon
James Wong Howe-Body and Soul

Editors
Lou Lombardo-The Wild Bunch
Richard Marks-Apocalypse Now
Walter Murch-The English Patient

Special Effects
Star Wars
Avatar
Jurassic Park

Costume Design
The Last Emperor
The Age of Innocence
Titanic

Original Score
The Sound of Music
The Good the Bad and the Ugly
Shaft

Art Directors
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Moulin Rouge!
Pan's Labyrinth